Photographic apparatus for firing percussion-ignitable flash lamps

ABSTRACT

Photographic apparatus for use with percussion-ignitable flashlamps supported in a multilamp flash unit. The flashlamps each include a striker element releasably retained in a preenergized position and mounted for selective release at individual access sites on the unit. The apparatus is adapted to cooperate with such units through the access sites to effect selective release of individual striker elements in synchronization with picture-taking operations.

United States Patent .louph V. Poweska;

Jefirey R. Stoaeham, both of Rochester, N.Y.

Oct. 11, 1968 Aug. 3, 1971 Eastman Kodak Company Rochester, N.Y.

lnventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS FOR FIRING PERCUSSION-IGNITABLE FLASH LAMPS 1 Claim, 14 Drawing Figs.

US. (I 95/11, 431/92 Int. Cl G031) 17/38 Field of Search 431/92- [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 952,394 3/1910 Whitefield 431/92 970,358 9/1910 Shoberg 431/97 1,814,299 7/1931 Drucker 431/92 1,853,172 4/1932 Nevwirth.. 431/92 2,006,171 6/1935 Kalhaus 431/92 X 744,540 11/1903 Hammer 95/115 Primary Examiner-Samuel S. Matthews Assistant Examiner-Fred 1.. Braun Attorneys-Robert W. Hampton and John D. Husser ABSTRACT: Photographic apparatus for use with percussionignitable flashlamps supported in a multilamp flash unit. The flashlamps each include a striker element releasably retained in a preenergized position and mounted for selective release at individual access sites on the unit. The apparatus is adapted to cooperate with such units through the access sites to effect selective release of individual striker elements in synchronization with picture-taking operations.

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JOSEPH V. POWESKA JEFFREY R. STONEHAM INVENTORS ATTORNEYS PHOTOGRAPI-IIC APPARATUS FOR FIRING PERCUSSION-IGNIT ABLE FLASH LAMPS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Reference is made to commonly assigned U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 765,930, entitled Multilamp Flash Unit," filed Oct. 8, 1968, in the name of David E. Beach and U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 765,926, entitled Percussion Activatable Flash Units Having Individual Striker Elements and Photographic Apparatus for Using Such Units, filed Oct. 8, 1968, in the name of David E. Beach.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to flash photography' and more particularly to apparatus using percussion-activatable flash units having preenergized striking elements.

- 2. Description of the Prior Art In order to obviate the necessity for providing electrical flash ignition sources and circuits in photographic apparatus, percussion-ignitable photoflash lamps have. recently been developed for use with photographic apparatus. Such percussion-ignitable photoflash units, in general, employ lamps having an envelope containing a combustible material such as shredded zirconium foil and a combustion-supporting gas such as oxygen, sealed in the envelope at' a pressure of several atmospheres. A percussion-activatable ignition tube is provided at the bottom end of such lamps, with the top'of the ignition tube opening into the lamp envelope and the bottom end of the tube closed and extending outside the envelope to a location suitable for percussion striking.

One such lamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 765,930, entitled Multilamp Flash Unit, filed Oct. 8, 1968 in the name of David E. Beach. In this-unit, the ignition tube contains an anvil rod coated with percussion-ignitable material such as a mixture of zirconium and fulminate; and, upon striking the tube the material is activated and ignites the combustibles in the envelope through the open end of the ignition 7 tube. I

Another type of percussion-ignitable photoflash lamp is disclosed in copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. .No. 765,926,

entitled Percussion Activatable Flash Units- Having Individual Striker Elements and Photographic Apparatus for dition by a movable latch member that is movable to release the striker to effect ignition of the lamp.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improved photographic apparatus which can be used to actuate ignition of flash units including percussion-ignitable flashlamps and having preener- 1 gized strikers that can be positively contacted and dislodged from a stationary retaining protrusion on the unit base. This A further important object of the present invention is to I feature of the present invention eliminates the necessity for a releasing latch member in the unit and thereby permits a simplified construction and reduces the likelihood of accidental firings. Another feature of the present invention provides an improved photographic flash apparatus in which an actuating mechanism cooperates directly with a preenergized torsional striker of a detachably mounted percussion-ignitable flash unit to effect striker release thus enabling the application of torsional forces to effect percussive firing.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for use with contact-actuating preenergized striker elements of a percussion-ignitable photoflash unit.

bination employing pr energized. percussion-ignitable, photoflash units.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects and advantages will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which like numerals denote like characters and wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view, with portions removed for illustration, of one embodiment of multilamp flash unit mounted on photographic apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. la is a partial section of the flash unit in FIG. I, as indicated, showing a manner of mounting the preenergized striker elements of that unit;

FIG. 1b is a partial section similar to FIG. la but showing an alternative manner of mounting the preenergized striker elements in that unit;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a multilamp flash unit with portions removed for illustration and showing another embodiment for use with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a multilamp flash unit with portions removed for illustration and showing yet another embodiment for use with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top view of the flash unit shown in FIG. 1 having parts omitted for purpose of illustration;

FIG. 4a shows the unstressed configuration of the springs shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines 5-5 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the unit shown in FIG. 5 but showing the striker element in its released position;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a camera showing one embodiment of actuating structure of the present invention, portions of the camera housing being removed and parts omitted for purpose of illustration; 7

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the actuating elements shown in FIG. 7 when in a cocked position; and

FIGS. 8a and 8b disclose a modification of the retaining element of the flash unit and actuating member of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a top sectional view of a portion of the camera shown in FIG. 7 showing the socket-rotating mechanism of the camera.

In FIG. 1 a multilamp flash unit I constructed in accordance with one embodiment for use with the present invention is shown detachably mounted on a photographic apparatus 2, in this instance a camera. Because photographic cameras having structure to detachably receive and sequentially index electrically ignitable multilamp photoflash units are generally known, the present description will be directed to particular elements of such cameras which form a part of or cooperate more directly with the present invention, elements not specifically shown or described herein being understood to be selectable from those known in the art.

By referring to FIGS; 1-3 it can be seen that each of flash unit embodimentsl, II and III include a plurality of percussionignitable flash lamps 3 which are mounted with their individual reflectors 4 around the central axis of a base 5 to form an assemblage which is generally cubic in configuration. The base 5 suitably can be formed of molded plastic. By referring briefly to FIG. 5 it can be seen that each of the flash units shown in FIGS. l3 have a downwardly extending hollow post 6 adapted to be mounted in a socket on the camera 2 in a known manner. The upright walls 7 of the unit are transparent and a top 8 is provided to complete the package enclosure.

The flashlamp 3 of the units I, and III are similar'to the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 765,930, entitled Multilamp'Flash Unit, flled Oct. 8, 1968, in the name of David E. Beach in that the units are provided with a hollow igunder stress so that'the spring is in nition tube 9 which opens on its top into the flashlamp envelope. These tubes can contain an anvil rod coated with a primer charge such as a composition of zirconium and fulminate like the ignition tubes in the above-mentioned Beach application, or can contain other percussive-activatable charges such as are known in the art. However, it will be noted that the ignition tubes 9, in these units, need not extend outside the container because of the novel preenergized striking device provided in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 4-6, the particular flash unit embodiment l for use with the present invention will be described in more detail. It can be seen that the strikers 10 of this embodiment are in the form of a unitary spring member.

having an inverted U-shaped upright portion 11 and two generally horizontal striker portions 12. The flash unit I utilizes two of the spring elements 10 so that with two striker portions 12 on each spring 10, each of the four flash lamps 3 is provided with an individual striker element 12. The spring members 10 are mounted with the inverted U-shaped portions thereof in diagonally opposite comers of the unit and extending generally normally upward from the base 5. The U-shaped members can be supported with respect to the unit by a hollow sleeve 13 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 1a or, alternatively, clamped rigidly at their top to the unit by web 13' as shown in FIG. lb, in a manner which substantially prevents transmission of torsional stress between the legs of the U member I l.

The striking portions 12 of each spring 10 are generally perpendicular to the upright portions 11 so as to extend generally parallel with respect to the interior of base 5. The spring 10 is formed so that the striker portions 12, in their unstressed condition, are generally parallel and formed as extensions of the upright portion, bent'90. The unstressed configuration of a spring 10 can be seen in FIG. 40; however, the construction of the springs unstressed configuration can vary in accordance with characteristics of the material used and the energy desired for percussion.

It can be seen that when the springs. 10 have been mounted in the flash unit I and striker anns 12 stressed to the positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, considerable torsional restoring forces in portions ll urge the striker arms 12 towards the ignition tubes 9 ofthe flash unit.

As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom ends of ignition tubes 9 can be embedded in the base to obtain rigid support and a backup ring 50 can be molded in the base to further support the tubes during percussion. The base 5 is provided with upwardly extendingposts or stops 14 which provide means for dislodgeably restraining the free ends of striker portions 12 a condition which is herein termed preenergized.

As mentioned above, the force urging the strikers 12 towards ignition tubes 9 include a large torsional restoring force resulting from the twisting of the upright portion 11. Further, it can be seen that when the upright portion is mounted as by a sleeve 13 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 1a, the torsional forces acting to restore the strikers are derived from both legs of the upright portion 12. However, when the top of striker is clamped by web 13 as shown in FIG. lb, the torsional restoring force for any one striker is derived substantially from only one leg of the upright portions 11 of springs 10.

The base 5 also includes four openings 15 to the exterior of the flash unit I. The openings 15 are in the illustrated embodiment located intermediate the posts and mounted upright portions 11 of the spring 10 and beneath the striker portions 12 when in their preenergized positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. However, it will be appreciated from the following description of operation that the free ends of striker portions 12 can be formed to extend beyond posts 14 and under free ends the preenergized springs 12.

By referring to FIGS. 4-6 it can be seen that when an actuating member such as 72 is moved upwardly from the exterior of the flash unit l through one of the access sites defined by openings 15, the striker portion 12 associated with that opening will be moved upward to a position in which is no longer restrained by stop 14 and is free to be moved by the restoring forces of spring 10 into percussion contact with the ignition tube 9 located in its firing path.

It will of course by appreciated that in order to prevent'ac-. cidental dislodging of the striker portions 12, the posts 14 can be slightly ramped over the pins or that the striker portions 12 .can be weakly secured to the posts as by embedding the wire ends partially in the posts 14 or base 5. Also it is to be noted that the spring 10 can be formed so that the mounted striker portions 12 have a slight downward bias against the base 5 to further prevent accidental firings.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the flash unit embodiment II for use with the present invention will be described. In flash unit II, the wire strikers 20 are formed as cantilever'springs with fixed ends 21 embedded in the base 5 and free ends 22 dislodgeably restrained by posts 23. A plurality of openings 24 provide access for an actuating member to dislodge the strikers 20 from posts 23 inthe manner described with respect to FIG. 1.

In FIG. 3 it can be seen that the springs 30 of flash unit III are similar to those shown in FIG. 1 in that torsional restoring forces are applied by upright members 31 to cause the striker portions 32 to move into percussion contact with ignition tubes 9. However, in this instance, each striker portion 32 is provided with an individual inverted U-shaped member; and the four inverted-U members of the unit III are mounted in the center of the flash unit by a sleeve 33. The sleeve 33 can be secured to the top of the flash unit III. Again restraining posts 34 and access openings 35 are provided so that actuation of ignition tubes 9 can be effected in the same'manner described elements be protected by structure of the unit in such a' fashion that accidental firing is not likely. For this purpose,

easily rupturable protective structure can be provided to prevent accidental activation of the holding elements. In ac cordance with the present invention, it only is necessary that the unit be provided with actuating'sites with which an actuator member of a photographic apparatus can cooperate to dislodge a preenergized striker element.

It will also be appreciated that the present invention can be utilized with flash units having any number of flashlamps in that a corresponding number of contact-dislodgeable, preenergized striker elements can be provided for any number of flashlamps in the unit.

Referring now to FIGS. 7-9 one embodiment of photographic apparatus which, according to the present invention, is provided for selectively moving into dislodging contact with preenergized striker elements in a flash unit such as that in FIGS. 1-5, will be described.

The camera 40 comprises an exterior housing 41 and an interior frame 42 on which various operating elements of the camera are mounted. In FIG. 7 it can be seen that a socket 43, of a known type adapted to detachably receive and support a flashunit with a base 5 such as is shown in FIG. 5, is provided in an opening on the top of housing 41.

In FIG. 7 it can be seen that the camera 40 has a film advance wheel 45 with an operating lever 46, the wheel 46 being connected to a film drive shaft 47 which successively advances photographic film inserted in the camera in a known manner. The wheel 45 also has a lug 48 formed on its periphery, the purpose of which will be subsequently described.

A shutter release lever 50 is slidably mounted on pins 51 for movement in a vertical direction and is urged upwardly by shutter release spring 52. In FIG. 7 it can be seen that the shutter release lever includes an operating top 55 and has extending horizontally therefrom a retaining arm 53 which terminates in a shutter release latch 54.

A shutter driver 60 is mounted in the camera on suitable means (not shown) for rotation on pin 61 in operative association with the shutter release latch 54 and the camera shutter (not shown). The shutter driver is biased by shutter drive spring 62 for rotation in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the top in FIG. 7 and includes a cocking arm 63, shutter-actuating arm 64 and retaining arm 65 which will be further described hereafter.

An actuating plunger 70 is slidably mounted in a bore in the frame 42 of the camera and urged upwardly by an actuating spring 71 so that, when released from its cocked position, an actuating pin 72 on the upper end of plunger 70 will pass through an actuating opening 73 in the camera top. The actuating opening 73 and plunger 70 are aligned with respect to socket 43 so that the access opening 14 associated with a forwardly facing lamp 3 of a percussion-ignitable unit such as disclosed in FIG. 1, will be aligned with these elements when in the socket 43. The actuating plunger 70 has a cocking pin 76 and a retaining notch 75 formed on the bottom end thereof at a location for cocked engagement by retaining arm 65 of shutter driver 60.

A cocking slider 80 is mounted for horizontal movement in the camera by means not shown and has an opening 81 engaged by lug 48 of film advance wheel 45. The slider 80 includes a shutter driver cocking arm 82 and a ramped end 83 adapted to contact cocking pin 76 and move plunger 70 downwardly against spring 71.

In FIG. 7 the parts of the camera are shown during a picture-taking operation with shutter release lever 50 partially depressed; whereas in FIG. 8 the parts are shown in a cocked position after film wind and ready for a picture-taking operation.

By referring to FIGS. 7 and 8 it can be seen that when the camera is in the ready condition shown in FIG. 8 and shutter release lever 50 is depressed, the shutter release latch 54 releases shutter driver 60 so that arm 64 can move counterclockwise to actuate the camera shutter (not shown) in a known manner. This movement of the released shutter driver 60 also causes retaining arm 65 to release actuating plunger 70 so that the actuating pin 72 is moved upwardly through the actuating opening 73 and into the aligned access opening 14 of an inserted flash unit I. This action releases the individual spring 12 which is associated with the forwardly facing flashlamp 3 and provides photoflash in synchronization with the camera shutter.

During film advance, the film advance wheel 45 is rotated counterclockwise causing slider 80 to move right to the position indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 8. Rightward movement of the slider 80 causes ramped end 83 of the slider to contact pin 76 and move the actuator plunger 70 downward. Also during this rightward movement the shutter driver cocking arm 82 engages and moves the shutter driver clockwise against spring 62 and over shutter release latch 54 to its cocked position. The final stages of clockwise rotation of the shutter driver 60 causes its retaining arm 65 to move into notch 75 of the lowered plunger 70 thereby retaining the plunger in the cocked position.- After the film advance wheel 45 has been returned to its original position shown in FIG. 7 the camera elements are cocked and ready for another picture-taking operation.

By referring to FIGS. 7 and 9, the mechanism of the present against a stop 88 on upper arm 85. The rotating arm has a claw 8 formed on its forward end that is adapted to engage ears 91 which are formed on the lower portion of socket 43.

It can be seen that during film advance the slider first cocks plunger 70 thereby withdrawing the pin 72 from an inserted flash unit and moves rotating arm into contact with an ear 91 on socket 43 as indicated by the dotted position a in FIG. 9. Further movement of the slider to dotted position 6 effects rotation of the socket 43 with the pin 72 out of an interfering position. The socket is indexed and held in the advanced position by engagement with a spring-loaded detent 92 in notches 93 of the socket 43.

It will be appreciated that the apparatus described above can be used with other flash units with preenergized strikers such as those shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 by modification of the location of socket 43 and/or opening 73.

It will also be appreciated that the actuating plunger of the present invention can be provided with a beveled or ramped actuating surface which contacts and cooperates with the striker element to move the striker back slightly in a direction further stressing the spring. Such structure is useful in order to clear the striker of overlying retaining structure which can be provided on the restraining posts for safety, such as for example, the ramped surface described above. Such a modified plunger 70 with a ramped surface 72a cooperable with a striker element S and restraining lug L of a flash unit can be seen in FIGS. 8a and 8b.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A camera for removably receiving and percussively firing a flashlamp; the flashlamp being supported in a unit including a striker lodged in a preenergized position by an abutment and being dislodgeable from the abutment to fire the flashlamp, the camera comprising:

an actuating member movable in a first direction and from a first position to a second position to engage and dislodge the preenergized striker from the abutment; and,

means defining a ramped end portion on said actuating member for engaging the striker and applying a force component to the striker that is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the actuating member, thereby to urge the striker away from said abutment during dislodging of the striker from the abutment. 

1. A camera for removably receiving and percussively firing a flashlamp; the flashlamp being supported in a unit including a striker lodged in a preenergized position by an abutment and being dislodgeable from the abutment to fire the flashlamp, the camera comprising: an actuating member movabLe in a first direction and from a first position to a second position to engage and dislodge the preenergized striker from the abutment; and, means defining a ramped end portion on said actuating member for engaging the striker and applying a force component to the striker that is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the actuating member, thereby to urge the striker away from said abutment during dislodging of the striker from the abutment. 